This Twisted Fate
by 8Legs
Summary: Future AU and gems are people. Probably Lapidot. Trying to make ends meet doesn't satisfy young Lapis Lazuli anymore, so she signs up for an adventure she could never forget. An adventure through time and space to save a dying world. An adventure with only one condition... Leave behind everything you ever knew and loved. T for now, rating will probably go up.


AN/ SO. The idea for this story came to me in a sketch that I was working on. As I was throwing the story together, I wanted it to be told in a person's POV rather than 3rd person or no perspective like a lot of my stories, and at first I wanted it to be in Peridot's POV because the drawing was of Peridot, but I felt that it could be told better from everyone's favorite water woman's perspective! Don't hate me if I make Lapis and Peri a little.. gay. They are cute and I'm Lapidot trash.  
 **I own nothing.**

 _Hello; My name Is Lapis Lazuli,  
I'm going to tell you a story. My story. This story about a city, about love, and about the world. The year is 3091, the Earth is in shambles due to ungrateful and ignorant human development, we are also currently experiencing a solar meltdown._

 _But... before we get into detail about that stuff, let's go back._  
 _Back to when all we had to worry about was getting to work on time and trying to support ourselves in a crappy economy._  
 _When people worried about school and if they were going to be able to give their kids a good head start in life._  
 _Let's go back to when we would lay in the grass with loved ones and watch the stars, wondering about what the future held.._

The year was 2015. My closest friends and I would always have the weekends free, so we'd all hop in the back of one of their big trucks or jeeps and go muddling all day up until about lunch time. All of us would be caked in mud, so we would leave the vehicle parked and run down to the boat docks that weren't far away and jump into the ever glassy water fully clothed. After about an hour's swim and splash fight that I always won, my friend's nominating me 'Queen Of The River' or the more popular 'Water Witch', we'd all pile back into the car and drive out for ice cream.

We did this almost every weekend, It was good for us. The week days were hell, we all had jobs that we hated and we all had problems at home..

Home.. My parents needed my financial support to keep up with this economy, mom was still working, she was always working, but that because she was trying to fill the void dad left when he passed away. Her job alone wasn't enough to support herself with, but thankfully I landed a pretty good job that helped pay bills.

I loved my mom..

Mom was such a strong woman, I hope to be like her one day. She always put me above all else, even with her job, I knew she was working so hard to keep a house over our heads and food in our bellies. She was always there for me in one way or another and I was there for her. We were a team in this unforgiving world.

A letter came one day.

My friends had received the letter too, our skype-chat exploded with conversation in the early hours of the morning, the only hours everyone wasn't working.

Looking down at the letter, I remember it reading about a mass donation of live humans for time-capsules. They were seeking healthy participants between the ages of 20 and 45 to go under for a period of time. We had heard about the studies and roomers about cryogenics and if it were possible to freeze humans... I guess it worked.

The donation of a human would grant ten-thousand dollars every two weeks for life to the remainder of the detonator's household..

I remember mom's face when I mentioned it to her.

She cried.

I had never seen my mother cry before.

When the time came for the mass donation, my mom walked me to the building. She put a picture in my hand, a picture of us before dad left. She was smiling in this picture as were I, big cheesy smiles as we stood side by side on a beach. I remember the tide was way out that day, so we all went out to find treasure. Dad said something dumb before he ran ahead of us and shouted "Smile!" before snapping this picture "There's my girls! The two most beautiful woman on the planet!" I hugged my mother in thanks, telling her I loved her and I would never forget everything she did for me.

I cried.

Myself and about three-hundred other people stood in a large room, there were wide steps leading up to many men and woman wearing white suits with gloves, taking people's vitals, reading their dental and doctoral history. Everything seemed very well executed, like they had done this before at some point.

"LAPIS!" My head whipped around at the sound of my name before I was nearly tackled to the ground by a rush of green and gold.

"What? Peri, you're donating too?" The blonde let go of my waist before bringing her eyes up to meet mine, her massive glasses were knocked a bit off her nose from the attack, she also had a wide blush across her face as well as a big dopey smile.

"Yeah, I mean.. My parents don't need the money, but my roommates can use it or whatever," she fixed her eye-gear and her big green Legend of Zelda graphic t-shirt before taking another step back to look me up and down "plus, I wanna see COD 600 or if Half-Life 3 will ever come out. What are you doin here?"

"Mom needed the money.. Aren't you scared they won't take you though? You might be too short," I was playfully slugged in the shoulder by the much shorter woman who laughed and said she was "fun-sized" not sort. We had been friends for a long time before we were introduced to our other much bigger group of friends that we had, Peridot and I went way back. All through school everyone always bullied her for being a short tom-boy, but we always kicked ass when were together, even considering I was one of those rude popular kids everyone liked and who thought rules didn't apply to.

A doctor had their eyes on us as we stood back and talked, they grabbed our attention by loudly clearing their throat and motioning to us to step up, so we did. Or well, Peridot did and she had to hold my hand to get me to move. My feet felt like led and my throat was starting to close up, tears nipping at my eyes and threatening to fall down my cheeks as I realized that I would be leaving all this behind. Everything I ever knew. Peri handed her papers over first before assuring me that everything was going to be just fine.

"I just hope the future will be kind to us... Who knows what fate has in store." It sounded like she was starting to have some doubts herself as well, but she put on a strong face and pressed on. Too late to go back now.

I admired Peridot for this, she was strong in her own way. Openly optimistic and often overly clinical, but when she felt strongly for something, she wasn't afraid to fight for it. With her holding my hand, standing at my side, at least I know I won't come out of this alone.

Our paperwork was separated into some folders and placed into a big metal box with the rest of everyone's documents, the doctor man telling us to step forward into the other room. This room was thinner, darker, the sealing lower, and it was much longer. Lots of pods laid out in lines along the floor and on top of one another like bunk-beads. Some of them were closed, someone must have already been placed inside.

We picked two on the end of the long line, I called top bunk as she grumbled but complied, taking the one below me. Another person dressed in white handed us little cups of clear fluid, telling us to drink up because it was going to be the last thing we had in our bellies for a very long time.

It tasted like urine smelled.

Both of us made distasteful faces at the flavor before handing the cups back, Peridot made a comment about needing a tequila chaser after something rancid like that. Another tenant came up and helped us into the pods, just before the doors could swing shut I had to say something. Something compelled me to tell her one last thing.

"Peri.."

"Yeah Lapis?"

"It was me. I was the one who wrote in red lipstick on your car window asking you to prom-"

"Are you fucking serious right n-"

The pods closed and I couldn't help but smile as she was promptly cut off. That woman was truly something, I bet she grumbled and blushed up until the very point her body froze solid.  
My world becoming chilly as my own eyes fluttered shut, tucking that picture into my pocket, remembering the smile of my strong parents..  
That laugh from my huge goof of a friend.  
Remembering laying in the grass with loved ones, watching the stars and wondering what the future held.

Loud noises, that's what I remember. Waking up to some really rude clattering that sounded like it was right next to my head. Suddenly my eyes flown open as my body reflexively heaved, a torrent of sweet tasting goop expelling from my throat and nose, Rolling onto my side as my body retched some more. Coughing roughly. I was now in a white room and I was naked.

Hands were on my back, rubbing in soothing circles as other hands helped me sit up fully, bringing the world into focus.

Robots.

The hands on my back belonged to robots.

I was surrounded by robots.

"W- Wha-?" My voice hurt and sounded small but didn't feel or sound dry, more like I hadn't used it ages. I'm sure that part is true, "I- Is this..?" One of the bots nodded.

"Welcome to the year 3086, Lapis Lazuli."

 _2086? Now, I know what your all thinking, "but Lapis, you just said it was 2015 and that it was 3091 now with the earth falling apart and the solar-whatever! What the hell Lazuli, get your shit together!" I know, I know. I meant what I said and I said what I meant. We just aren't there in the story, yet. It's 3086. Almost there, I promise._

The bots had cleaned me up nicely and returned my cloths to me, introduced me to some weirdly textured chalk-like substance that was the means of my first meal, bothered to put me through some therapy to ensure my unused muscles still functioned then they put me trough some classes that informed me of all the development and changes humanity had gone through and what to expect when they let us into the city. The world I knew was left behind, now they had cars that flew, trains that could move through space, digital weight-loss beverages, laser-powered weapons, and metal sidewalks. My eyes roamed a map and brochure they had downloaded onto a little wristband gizmo and gave to me that projected a little screen onto my forearm. There was no doubt in my mind, this place had really changed.

I was escorted into a space where I recognized a few faces, these were some of the people I was donated with. A screen overhead cycled through a few pictures of the people in the room, congratulating them on making it this far successfully, as well as a total number "250" what did that mean? My curiosity made me approach one of the bots whom was standing against a wall casually, it regarded me with a single blinking blue light that I assume was it's "eye" I don't recognize this bot as one that helped me before, but all the robots around here seemed friendly enough.

"Lazuli?" How did it know my name? Maybe it scanned me when I made "eye"-contact with it or something.

"Uh, yeah.. pardon me, I'm confused and curious," It tilted it's head at me as I pointed to the projection "what does that number mean?"

"It's the total number of participants that survived the freeze."

"Survived?"

"Yes, with this particular lot, an electrical malfunction occurred. This either cut nutrients feed, killing the participant in a few hours, or prematurely prompt the pod to open, killing the participant instantly. Sadly enough, a few of the pods were exposed to the change in atmosphere due to the malfunctioning pods, rotting their door sealant. Those few began to decay slowly in their pods, mass organ failure, their deaths took years.."

"Oh my..."

"Yes, It was catastrophic," the bot's flickering eye watched the screen as it continued to cycle through the list of survivors "We were sent in to extract the damaged pods and bodies periodically so they couldn't damage any other pods as they sat and festered."

"That doesn't sound like a pleasant job in the slightest."

"It wasn't."

"So uh.. why 2086?"

"We are experiencing a genetic poverty. The city shares too much of it's own genetics to pass on any more healthy and functional humans, so some fresh DNA was in need."

"They couldn't have harvested our stem-cells and built new humans from those?" I was confused by this, having sat through a number of Peridot's rants about space movies and things, you would think cloning people and stuff would be number one on the list of shit to do when in a situation like this.

Peridot...

I don't remember seeing her in the classes or around this large aria. My eyes didn't leave the screen that cycled through the portraits of people and names. My heart started to beat faster in my chest as thoughts ran through my head millions of miles a second. She had to have been one of the lucky two-hundred and fifty people, I mean.. we only had about three-hundred people donate, that made for a seventy-five percent chance that she lived.. right? The robot's voice pulled me up and out of my heavy thoughts, but it didn't take my eyes from the projection.

"The people won't allow the creation of organic life through a machine, something about keeping it natural. Complete blasphemy, I agree," the robot pushed off the wall and approached me, keeping it's eye on the screen with mine, probably wondering if I was still paying attention to it's words, "listen.. when they open those doors and let you all into this world, you can never return here. They will scan your wrist-phone and deliver you an amount of money depending on your genetic worth. You have a pretty good set-up by the looks of it, so if I were you, I'd try to stay away from the east side of the city as much as possible."

"Why?"

"The people over there aren't friendly, they will recognize you as an outsider and probably try to take your wrist-phone from you, talk you into giving them money, or they will try to breed you as soon as they see you."

Okay. So don't go East. Ever.

"What do you recommend I do?"

"Find somewhere to be for the night, hotel or something. You don't want to be out on the town after the sun has gone down."

"Then what..?"

"Find a trustworthy robot. All bots are programmed to serve with an instinct to protect, if they are already protecting an individual, then move on. They won't leave their individual unless they are rebooted. Also, you will need a job, as much currency as they'll give you, It won't last forever."

"Okay.. Find a place, job, and get a bot. Got it."

"Ya might wanna do some shopping too, blend in a little-"

"-Hey, what's wrong with my threads?"

I bid the helpful bot a good day as the huge doors opened, showing everyone the new world. A thought crossed my mind, why didn't I ask that bot if he'd tag along and help me out, but I mashed the thought. The big fella was just doing his job, he wouldn't leave his position to help some weird girl get around the city. The first thing I did was hop on the train and ride it out south. The city out here didn't seem near as big as it did back in the center of it all. Yes, every building was still massive in size and shape, but the city blocks were smaller as were the roads. This must be the side of town that gets the most foot-traffic. Stepping off the train, I walk for a little while, eyeing the various buildings as I went.

People walked by and into places, people chatted in other languages that I'd never heard before, people dragged their kids along with them as they talked on their wrist-phones. People, people, people.

Everyone was dressed in weird skintight suits made from bright material in various colors. Hair was everywhere all the time, cut into weird shapes and pressed into dramatic waves, the wind of vehicles whizzing by did hardly anything to hamper anyone's unique appearance. Well.. my own hair and cloths were violently pulled and pushed by the harsh winds, but everyone was too engrossed in themselves to pay me much attention as I stumbled around the street trying to get footing on this weird sidewalk.

I was actually starting to miss the calm comforting hands of the medical robots back in city-center right about now.

A mass of people loaded onto a large metal sausage of a thing before a door shut behind them quickly, it lifted off the ground before flinging itself dramatically down the narrow road. That must have been this generations equivalent of a buss. My feet stopped at a block's corner along with some other chatting people, looking both ways and at a light that would indicate when I should walk across the street. It began flashing blue and people started crossing, guess that means go now. Reaching the other side, I glanced around at my surroundings, people didn't appear to be coming out of or going into this one particular building often, so I decided I would stand in there for a moment to get my bearings to look at my map.

"Welcome to The Homeworld Inn; what service might I provide for you?" So I stumbled into an Inn? Convenient. I turned to the person behind the front desk with a raised eyebrow, comfort washed over me instantly as I learned that the voice had come from a robot standing behind a dark colored desk that came up to it's waist.

"Uh, yeah actually.." I approached the being, it's model was very unique compared to the other bots I've seen, though it was turned a little to the side so it would have proper access to the screens it was interacting with, I could see this one had a feminine figure. It's face, neck, part of it's chest, and biceps painted a light shade of green but it's forearms were painted a much darker shade of green as well as it's upper torso and slender shoulders. A black collar decorated it's clavicles and shoulders, kinda like a long shawl, black bands also decorated it's elbows and hips. It's hands surprised me most of all, it didn't have hands, it had fingers. fingers that were colored the same as it's face and upper arms, but they were completely detached from the flared wrists.

I might have stared at the machine for a bit too long as it tilted it's head at me, awaiting more instruction I presume. It's face drew me in, all soft and angular against what I assume was the currently trending hairstyle that was nothing but yellow colored geometry at it's best. A lime colored glowing visor stretched across it's face, darker green symmetrical dots about the size of nickles were projected onto it to give it the appearance of eyes. The visor ended at large metal discs on the sides of it's face that looked a bit like headphones, an antenna protruding from one twitched a little curiously as the other perked up.

"Miss?"

"Uh? Um.. yeah, I'd like a room that's not too expensive, but isn't.."

"Ah, I see," It got the message, nodding before typing a few things into a holographic interface, a new screen appearing on the wall behind it. As it worked, I noted this upside-down green triangle on it's forehead behind the visor glinted and pulsated with a dull light from inside it. I wondered curiously if that was how you knew the machine was on, maybe it blinks red when the coffee was done, "we have three rooms available that might suit you. One bed, one bath, joined kitchen.. Unless you would rather a compartment, those are more affordable-"

"N- No, no compartments for me!" My awkward laughter filled the room for an instant before I cleared my throat and pointed to the room with the navy blue bed comforter and light tan carpet "I think that one will do."

"Ah, good choice. That is one of our better rooms," I strained my eyes to read a little silver nameplate that adorned the bot's breast proudly, the letters were engraved with a glowing green material and written in fancy writing, hell, It could have been a different language entirely. At this angle, I deemed the effort pointless and turned my gaze up to the droid's visor only to find those little dark eyes already trained on me "You... have to put your wrist under the scanner, Ma'am."

My eyes looked down at this little crescent of metal that had gracefully folded out from the table, a blinking green light letting me know it was charged and ready to receive my hand. "Right, sorry.. I'm new here, I think.." I held my hand under the little metal bend and it activated instantly when my wristband thing came into it's sight. More lights directed down at my band before a beep sounded, I guessed that that meant it was done, so I pulled my hand back and watched the device fold back into the table seamlessly. The screen behind the receptionist bot also deactivated, after another window popped up, confirming the transaction and listing the room under my name.

"So you are," floating digits tapped some at the screen before the bot turned it's body to me fully, "seeing as this is your first purchase with a fresh account, I'm entitled to inform you, Miss. Lazuli, you will have unlimited access to the pool at any hours, free breakfast and dinner with your stay, and that room is yours for three days all with the price of one night. Should you choose to continue your stay with us, of course."

"I'll take you up on that offer then," now I can read that blasted nameplate clearly, something in me wishes I didn't because that single word stopped my heart mid-beat, my vision blurred as I became very aware that the world had started swimming, I nearly choked on air with weak knees, was I going to puke? "P- Peridot."

"Excellent! Your room is on the second floor, first hall. The elevator is to the left here." Three floating digits held out a thin plastic card to me with a few yellow numbers and letters on it. I assume this was my room card and took it from the... being. "Thank you, and please enjoy your visit. Welcome to the future!" It couldn't be her. This robot didn't sound like her. It didn't look like her at all. This being wasn't my Peri, my Peridot was a short dork who was a video-game and space enthusiast, loved fast-food and wore baggy cloths. She was a socially awkward young woman, amazing, and loved to be engaged in a political debates, and, and... and was not a sleek, tall, curvy, smooth voiced and ever slightly quirky robot.

I nodded dumbly, mumbling a quiet thanks as I took the card with a shaking hand, a wide blush spanning my cheeks and making my freckles stand out. I read the number on the card before starting off into the direction of the mentioned elevator with a stiff posture.

"Miss. Lazuli?" The robot stopped me in my tracks with the sound of my name, looking up from the card with curious eyes and a raised eyebrow. I could see gears turning in it's jaw, as if it were thinking about something, grinding the teeth it doesn't have. Overall, it's expression looked like it was trying to mull over something personal behind that flickering triangle.

"Uh, yeah?"

"I understand, this world might be a bit overwhelming for you.. no matter how long the briefing they had you had to sit through, nothing could have prepared you for life out here," those metal shoulders relaxed a little and it's expression softened considerably, long antennas falling into a comfortable position as it's mouth contorting into a lopsided but friendly smile, "but.. Try to keep an open-minded about it and take one step at a time. After all, who knows what fate has in store."

Oh Fuck.

...

END Chapter1-

AN/ Bum bumm BUUUM! Yeah, that happened. So here we have it, an attractive set of genetics and a service droid! Will Lapis fall for this new slick version of her childhood friend or will she be whisked away by an organic force in this unforgiving utopia that that she once knew? Better stick around and let oll' Lapis finish her story! Let us know how you liked it!  
Also, yes...

...

there will be eventual smutty stuff between Lappy and RoboPeri, probably pretty soon seeing as our female protagonist only has 3 extra free days in this hotel.

 **THIS** is our little secret, shhh don't tell Lapis plz.


End file.
